The marital rape exception in criminal law is a colonial relic. It needs to go |
The foundational promise of India’s democracy rests on the commitment to equality, dignity, individual agency, privacy and bodily autonomy for all its citizens. The Constitution provides these; the Supreme Court has repeatedly reaffirmed them. Every Indian should be able to take these rights for granted.
Yet, a glaring anomaly persists that undermines these very principles for countless women: The marital rape exception in the Indian Penal Code (IPC), now carried over in Section 63 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. This exception, which exempts a husband from punishment for engaging in non-consensual sexual intercourse with his wife who is not under 18 years of age, is a tragic anachronism — a stubborn remnant of colonial-era patriarchal mindsets that view a wife as her husband’s property. It is a legal and moral failing that we must rectify.
In the ongoing session of Parliament, I have introduced a private member’s Bill in the Lok Sabha to remove this archaic provision. I did so because the continued failure to criminalise marital rape leaves married women legally defenceless. The arrogant presumption that marriage voids the necessity of consent directly undermines a woman’s fundamental rights to dignity, safety, and bodily autonomy, all guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The urgency of this is validated by alarming national data. The National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) reveals that 83 per cent of women aged 18 to 49 years who faced sexual violence named their current husband as the perpetrator. The pervasive nature of sexual violence........